In my last blog, I mentioned a court ruling in Beaverton Municipal Court where the Trial Court held that the DUI procedures implemented by the police were unconstitutional.  Therefore, the judge ruled that the breath test result will not be allowed to be used as evidence in the upcoming DUI jury trial.

I recently learned that the Beaverton City Attorney will be appealing this particular case.  The prosecutor disagrees with the trial judge and, quite frankly, with the current state of the law.  The prosecution is allowed to file a motion to challenge the judge’s ruling if they so choose.  I believe the prosecutor appealing this DUI case is more about appealing the current state of the law than believing the judge made a mistake on his ruling.

I can’t say this is unexpected. Defense lawyers, judges and prosecutors all are waiting to read what the Oregon Supreme Court will say about this cutting edge issue.  Until then, the Oregon Court of Appeals Case of State v. Machuca is the controlling law for Oregon DUI cases.  This means until the Oregon Supreme Court changes the law, law enforcement will have to change the way they process driving under the influence case or face the very real possibility that the intoxilyzer exam results will not be allowed at trial.